


Promises to Keep

by Alice_In_The_Sky



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Azran Legacy Spoilers, Character Death, Deslay, F/M, Haven't played Unwound Future yet but knows enough that this has spoilers for it, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Unwound Future Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 03:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1672643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_In_The_Sky/pseuds/Alice_In_The_Sky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The question caught him off guard that he almost tripped on nothing. Descole turned to the woman at the center of all this madness...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises to Keep

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. First time posting here. I hope it will be alright. This work was inspired by a Layton fanart that I saw online that I unfortunately couldn't find anymore. I haven't played Unwound Future yet (but I know bits of it) but I've played Azran Legacy. While I love the ending of that game. I'm a bit in denial so... This is still DesLay pairing. 
> 
> I'm sorry if it's ooc as well. I'm trying my best. 
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Azran Legacy Spoilers ahead!!

 

"You love him, don't you?"

The question caught him off guard that he almost tripped on nothing. Descole turned to the woman at the center of all this madness. The illusion of that fake future city was starting to crumble all around them and she asked the question even he didn't know the answer to. Claire just looked at him smiling, maybe a bit sadly.

When he heard that something big was going to happen, he rushed back to London. He knew, instinctively, that whatever that something was, Layton would be involved. That man could never keep his nose out of trouble. He shadowed Layton, using his many disguises and kept an eye out for danger. When danger came though, he had not expected it to be in the form of an older looking false Luke. He ran through the streets of that so called Future London and managed to save that young lady with the kind smile.

"You love him, don't you?" she repeated. "Perhaps as much as I do." she added, softly.

Descole scoffed. "I? In love with Layton? That's absurd!" he replied. 

But Claire just looked at him as if  _he_ who was the one being an idiot. He scowled and cursed at himself. She had seen him stop and turn to watch Layton and Luke when they ran past the alley they were in. The woman with the hat who hid her face and name. The woman that Layton loved and lost. She was indeed a very beautiful lady. Quite observant too. Someone who was fit to stand beside the professor. Someone who could keep him on his toes. 

At the moment though, her observation only served to irritate him. He thought she was mocking him. He'd spent enough time with many perfect people in his time that he knew that perfection was just a façade. Behind closed doors, they gossiped and back-stabbed and worked only for their own agendas just like everyone else. But Layton loved her. And Hershel Layton was perfect so perhaps she was too.

"You love him." She stated as if that was a fact and then smiled.

Descole couldn't tell her she was wrong even if he wanted to. What was the point of all this anyway? Now that she was there, he needed to keep her alive long enough to deliver her to Layton. Layton didn't need him. He had her. Then he could disappear, peacefully; with the knowledge that the younger man would be all right. That was when he saw it, the way her form flickered. Not quite gone but not quite there either. She must have known he saw for she touched the brim of her hat to hide her face in shame. And he despaired. Because he knew that she could not stay and if Layton found out who she was, old wounds would open up. Layton was strong, he knew this and yet how strong does a person have to be to face those you loved only to lose them again. To see them expire before your eyes.

Claire smiled, sadly as if she read his dark thoughts.

"You will be here for him, won't you?" She asked. "Because you know. Because you love him too."

"You cannot ask me this." He said, bitterly. "I left his life a long time ago. I betrayed him! He would never forgive me."

Claire touched his cheeks with her gentle hands.

 _These hands once held him..._ The words came unbidden in his thoughts. Once, a long time ago, someone touched his face the same way. Full of love.

 "He will understand." She said.

It was as though she _knew_ who he was. But how could she? She was long dead when they unearthed the Azran Legacy. Layton couldn't have been able to tell her then. He didn't know then that Descole gave his name to him. He didn't know that his biological mother would've been married to his father before they were kidnapped. His real mother's past finally caught up to her. The change of name was not able to protect them.

He was careful -so very careful- whenever he went to sneak a peak at the boy whom he gave his name to. Layton was all he had for a very long time until his wife and child. When his father killed them, he was alone again.

Layton was all he had again, even though most of the time they faced, they were at each other's throats. But it was only to keep him away from Targent's reach. Descole did everything as flashy as possible to keep their eyes trained on him instead of his last remaining treasure.

"He will understand." She repeated and drew his face closer so that their foreheads touched.

 _Would he really?_ He wondered.

"How do you know this?" He whispered quietly.

"Because." She replied.

What can he say to that?

"When I am gone... stay with him." She whispered. "He will need you."

He released the breath that he didn't know he held at her words. "I... will try." He replied.

She smiled at him and straightened up. It was as good as a promise to her. Her lips trembled and her eyes filled with unshed tears but they did not fall. He watched her walk to her death and assisted her in the only way he knew.

 

* * *

 

Layton let her go.

 

* * *

 

One must not break promises made to dead people. And yet Descole found himself stalling.

Claire's gentle, sad words echoed in his mind and would not cease. Raymond had inquired to his health and "Master Layton's" as he has become fond of calling him. He scowled at his old butler but Raymond only shook his head and turned to the tea he was preparing. 

 

* * *

 

Descole watched as Layton waved to the ship that carried his friends. It had been a month since. Layton still had not mourned properly and for a while, Descole thought that maybe Layton had mourned enough. But there was a silence in his steps and a smile that did not reach his eyes.

Descole knew what it was. He'd seen that look before, when he looked at the mirror.

 

 

* * *

 

The moon was full, and the house was empty except for Layton, who lay in his bed, restless in his slumber.

Flora had gone back to her village to visit earlier that day and was to stay there for a couple of days, with the thought that maybe he just needed some time alone. She knew that despite how Layton tried to appear normal, the events that transpired and its outcome weighed heavily in his mind. She knew grief when she saw it. She lost her own Papa and Mama before. She didn't want to lose another. She tried her best to speak to him about it, maybe talking about it would ease his mind and heart.

His parents as well when they found out. But he would always answer that he was fine.

So she left for a while with a warning, in her own sweet way, that she would cook it out of him when she returned. She was a horrendous cook. He laughed at her but the sound was quite hollow.

They knew but they could not coax him out of it.

Descole entered through the open bedroom window, where the moon shone. In the moonlight, Layton looked paler still. It was clear that he lost some weight and whatever dreams he had disturbed him so. It was only when exhaustion crept up to him did he allow himself to fall asleep. He slept but he didn't rest. The destruction all over London after the false one caved took its toll on him. Many injured, thousands homeless in one swoop and many dead all for revenge and the love of one woman.

He watched Layton sleep and for a moment, He thought he would wake. But sleep would not let him go. Within his nightmare, he called for Claire, and Clive. He called for Luke and Clark in the other side of the ocean. For Emmy so far away. For Flora, for Angela and Randall and Aurora. Trapped in dreams he called for them as if in a delirium, apologizing that he could not save them all, and blamed himself for all the things he didn't have the power to prevent.

And he called for Descole. Because he thought he was lost to him too. Just as Claire wasn't anywhere (or any _when_ ) anymore.

Descole felt incredibly guilty for that.

Descole reached out with a hand to wipe the tears away. Immediately, as if struck, Layton's eyes flew open and grabbed his wrist. Layton's grip was like vice. It would most likely leave a lovely bruise the next day but Descole didn't flinch nor tried to pull away.

"Layton." He said simply.

Descole was prepared for anything. If Layton punched or kicked him, he would accept it. He certainly deserved it after everything that had happened. But instead of a punch or a kick, Layton clutched his arms. The tears stopped but the grief remained in his face.

"You're alive?" He whispered.

He nodded.

Layton's grip on his arms hurt but the gentleman's hands trembled and his shoulders shook trying to stop the tears. Descole couldn't bear to see him that way. He took off his hat and his mask, letting them fall to the floor to look at him face to face. Layton stared at him as if he'd never seen him before.

And perhaps it was true.

"Tell me." Descole said. "I will listen."

At first there was only silence. Mayhap, he was getting ahead of himself. They had not seen each other since the ruins sank. At least not face-to-face. He owed the man many explanations after all. But those were not what he needed right then. The silence stretched on for a few more heartbeats; then Layton, spoke. About Claire, the explosion and seeing her lifeless body. ("I was going to ask her to marry me that day." Layton said. "I've even bought the ring.") How hard it was for him to tell her family what happened. ("It was like Randall all over again.") Her funeral and the investigation that kept being swept under the rug because of money and influence.

"That man was the cause of all this." Layton said quietly. Anger and bitterness plain in his voice. "He deserves all my hatred and that of that poor boy, Clive. And yet I could not let him die!" He confessed, angrily. "Why?"

"Because you are a better man than he."

Descole, reached out as Layton's hand slipped from his arms and held him, gently; fearing he would break more than he all ready was. Tragedy after tragedy. Grief after grief. There was a limit to what a single man could take. So he held him, hoping his embrace would be enough to keep him together. To not fall as he did before he was saved. With a shuddering breath, Layton allowed himself to be held. He laid his head in his hands and sobs wracked his trembling form. He'd kept the grief back for so many years, he didn't think had he had any tears left in him. Descole didn't know how long they stayed that way. It might have been minutes or hours until finally Layton returned the embrace. He buried his face on Descole's shoulder, now wet with tears.

"Descole..." Layton whispered, hoarsely.

"Yes?"

"Don't disappear..."

 _Stay with him._ Claire had said. Descole took a deep breath. There would be a lot of questions when the morrow came. Layton might even be angry when his head has finally cleared up. But he will still stay because that was what was needed. Because he was needed and he couldn't deny Layton anything. He'd allow the world burn if that was what he wanted.

"Don't disappear." Layton repeated with more force, willing his words to come true.

Perhaps it would.

"Never." He vowed. "Not while you live."

 

 

 

**THE END**

 

 


End file.
